This is from Bryan Gilbert - and is why he is voting for Richard Atwell.
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I’ve known Richard for three years. He’s someone dedicated to building better government in our region. He has the determination and tenacity to encourage us to work together to make better decisions for our mutual future. I know him best from my involvement on the CRD sewage issue. Richard deals in facts and has developed a vast knowledge of both how the CRD has failed us but also how we can do better.
I’m going to focus on the sewage issue as the clearest example of why Richard is the best choice for us. Check his website for more on 14 other issues that affect Saanich and the region. www.richardatwell.com
In the next four years our region MUST implement a plan to deliver sewage treatment by 2020. The people we elect now will commit us to a plan that will spend close to a billion dollars. A huge sum of money. Ten times the Johnson Street Bridge project. Four times the Vic General Hospital.
But, the billion dollars is just the tip of the iceberg. What we do now will impact our need for new water reservoirs; new storm drain systems; waste management; and future growth. More huge costs.
How do you want that money to be spent? Do you want our leaders to seek solutions that have a business case to recover as much revenue as possible? Do you want the solution to have the best benefit for the environment? Do you want a say? I’m sure you’ll say Yes to each of those.
Richard is ready now to lead on this issue. He is one of the most knowledgeable people in the region on not only the technology but also the political mechanism to accomplish it. His platform calls for an independent technical researcher to assess these potentials. His platform calls for open and collaborative government to work with the public, so we are involved from the start. His visions include maximizing the recovery of the resources (save or make money) and designing for sustainability and future growth. Richard is well respected by the neighbouring councils and can immediately get to work with them.
Frank voted against having the CRD conduct an environmental benefit study to determine how to get the best environmental benefit. He knows there was never a business case for the failed plan. He rarely attended the committee meetings but still voted on the issues at the board level. He may be out there across the country representing our region but locally he has not helped the neighbouring communities find a mutually beneficial solution. He and others tried to push everything into Esquimalt. They even went so far as to purchase land to build a biosolids plant right across the street for residences and playgrounds. To date, nobody has been held to account for the millions wasted on these bad decisions. Bad decisions that the public and experts have told the CRD about since 2009.
Richard wins the confidence of others by sticking to the facts and illustrating that he knows what he is talking about. He has an astounding ability to absorb information & re-iterate it. Richard has strong credibility across the capital region on this issue, and a tremendous knowledge of the possible solutions. Has demonstrated he can pull people together to first learn about the solutions and then move forward quickly. Richard works easily with people and already has developed strong relationships with Saanich neighbours. Richard always takes the municipal AND regional perspective: Frank only the municipal.
The next four years are critical and the people we elect will be making billion dollar decisions. We need to vote out those who created this mess and vote in the people that have proven they can solve the sewage issue for our region.
This is only the sewage issue. With Richard's abilities and collaborative leadership, we can also break through the impasse on other major issues we face. www.richardatwell.com
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